An air plasma is an electrically conductive state of matter composed of ions, electrons, radicals, and other neutral species formed at atmospheric pressure that exist in an independent state. Air plasmas may be used in a variety of applications, such as nonlethal weapons, fusion, plasma processing, propulsion, disinfection applications, and shockwave mitigation.
However, current plasma sources have been unable to generate an air plasma with an electron density sufficient to protect against the consequences of the overpressure caused by a shockwave at atmospheric pressure. Furthermore, current plasma sources have been unable to generate self-containing or self-confining air plasmas that have lengthy lifetimes without the use of expensive and unwieldy support equipment or large magnets. Therefore, there remains a need for a versatile, scalable, and repeatable method and apparatus to generate air plasmas.